This Marathon Called Life

I love to run, though I’m totally not a serious runner. My idea of running is a five-mile slow jog, and when I say slow, I mean mothers pushing their babies in strollers can overtake me. My friend Dawn, the one I hike mountains with, is the real runner. She regularly competes in marathons and has built both the physical and mental endurance to go such distances. She’s run enough to know what it’s like to hit a wall while running, a concept I’ve never experienced because apparently I’ve never run far enough!

Hitting a wall is a place runners can overcome only with their minds. It’s more mental than physical, even when the physical is excruciating. Dawn once explained it to me by describing what happened in her first marathon. She was 23 miles in when she hit the infamous wall. She had 36 minutes to cover the remaining 3.2 miles. It would not have been an issue had she not already run for miles and didn’t have searing pain pounding in her left hip. As she tells it, the left side of her brain (the rational side) told her to stop and walk the rest of the way. Thoughts like, Don’t worry about meeting the goal. People will understand when they realize how hot it is and how badly I hurt, thundered in her head. But just as loud, the right side of her brain thundered back, There is still hope! The race isn’t over yet! It’s still possible to meet my goal. Don’t stop running!

Have you ever felt yourself in such a mental war? When your mind is screaming at you? In a race this happens when you hit a wall, when you have nothing left to give, when you’ve expended every ounce of energy and everything within you wants to quit. And yet, as Dawn experienced, somewhere deep inside, the flicker of a goal or dream begs to not be extinguished.

I’ve been in such a place, where I hit a wall spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. But at the same time, I had the Word of God in my heart and mind. I had God’s promises resounding in me at the same time my mind was screaming for me to stop. And because of His promises, that flicker of hope, I was able to keep going by focusing my mind on God and His Word. Despite how many times my mind fought me to quit, I kept redirecting my mind away from what it wanted to think and toward what God’s Word said was true.

Maybe you’re in such a place right now. What is your mind screaming at you? That it’s not possible? That it’s too late? That you’re not equipped? Not smart enough? Young enough? Old enough? Educated enough? You can win the war in your mind by renewing it with God’s words. You can endure by making God’s voice louder than any other voice in your head.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word. Help me be more acquainted with what it says so I can be transformed by the renewing of my mind, and so I can get through any wall. In Jesus’ name, amen.